He looked at it with interest as she put some peanut butter on it and handed over one square. “Only one square?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Sari likes to lick off the peanut butter but doesn’t eat most of the bread.” She looked over at him. “What would you like for breakfast?”
“Normally I eat a fairly big breakfast,” he said, “but I don’t want to put you out or eat you out of house and home. I can always go to town and pick up something or go to a restaurant.”
She waved her hand at him. “Nonsense. You do remember you gave me a pile of cash yesterday, right? But you’ll need to tell me what you mean, when you say, a big breakfast.”
“Bacon and eggs or something like that for a start,” he said. “I can cook it if you have the ingredients.”
She looked at him, surprising him with a nod. “I think we can manage that.” She walked to the fridge, pulled out a pack of bacon and a dozen eggs. “Anything else?”
He looked in to see a couple cold baked potatoes on the rack and spoke up. “Were you saving those potatoes for anything?”
She shook her head. “Nope. If you want them, go for it.”
He snagged them both and chopped them into little pieces, frying them in a pan with the bacon. When everything was done, he moved it all off to the side, cracking a couple eggs and adding them to the pan. When he had the eggs cooked the way he liked, he used the spatula to put it all onto a plate, took it to the table and sat down beside them. He noticed that Daniela had just toast too, along with her daughter.
He stopped, looked at her plate and asked, “You can have half of this, if you’d like.”
She chuckled. “Then it wouldn’t be a big breakfast, would it?” she teased.
“I should have asked if you wanted some. I’m embarrassed I didn’t.”
“I don’t eat breakfast,” she said. “I don’t have much appetite in the morning.”
“Good to know,” he said.
With that, he dug into his breakfast. Sari watched him with fascination. He looked at her as she started banging her high chair tray. “Would she eat any of this?”
“It’s all good food for her,” she said, “so you can try her with some of it.”
He picked up a piece of bacon, snapped off a little bit and handed it to her. She grabbed it from his hand and put it in her mouth. Almost a blissful look came over her face. He laughed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, maybe not,” Daniela said with a heavy sigh. “She does like your food, so that’s a good thing. But trying to keep some foods in the house is not an easy job.”
“Not at all,” he said. “But you’re doing a lovely job with her.”
She looked at him in surprise. “You mean, all that you’ve seen in the last day or two.”
He shrugged. “Well, so far, it’s all I’ve got,” he said. “The house is clean. Sari looks great. She’s eating well, and she’s happy. You care deeply about her, and she adores you, so it’s obvious she’s doing very well in your care.”
She noticeably relaxed at that, which made him realize just how much fear was inside her.
“Did you really expect me to try to take her away from you?”
She gave him a flat glare. “Expect, no, but people are people. So while I certainly didn’t want to entertain the idea, it’s hard not to be concerned.”
“I understand,” he said.
Just then her phone rang. She looked at it and gasped.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Angel,” she said.
“You might as well answer it,” he said. “We need to deal with this one way or another.”
She looked at him with fear evident in her eyes.
“Put it on Speakerphone.”
She did as he asked and set the phone on the table, taking a deep breath. “Angel, what’s up?”
“I want to come see my daughter,” Angel said abruptly.
“Why is that?” Daniela asked.
There was silence at first. “She is my daughter,” Angel said belligerently.
Weston was interested in her tone of voice. Nothing in there said Angel missed her daughter and wanted to see her or that Angel was heartbroken at having given her up. Angel spoke as if Sari were a possession—as if she had ownership. He just nodded at Daniela to keep the conversation going.
“She’s not your daughter anymore, Angel,” Daniela said calmly. “I have the paperwork to prove it.”
“You can’t keep her from me,” Angel said.
“I don’t know about that,” Daniela replied. “The thing is, this is the first time in eighteen months you’ve even bothered to contact me about her. So why now?”
“Well, maybe I just want to see her now,” Angel said.
“I don’t think so,” Daniela murmured.
“What? Do you think you’re the only mother around?” Angel snapped. “You’re not a real mother anyway,” she said. “I’m the mother. You’re just a babysitter. This isn’t over, and, when you least expect me, I’ll be there.”
At that, Western snatched the phone and said, “That’s a very interesting comment you just made there, Angel.”
Suspicious, she said, “Who’s there? Who is that?”
“Sari’s father,” Weston said in a silky voice, as he looked over at Daniela. “I’m here for a visit with my daughter.”
A shocked silence came on the other end of the phone. “God, why would she want you there?” Angel said, her voice snide as always. “And just because you’re there doesn’t mean I can’t be. That’s my daughter, and you’re not keeping her from me.”
“Like Daniela said, it’s interesting that you haven’t wanted anything to do with Sari all this time. Why now, Angel? Did you find a buyer for her? Is there something you want? Drug money, perhaps? Did you end up in a slum somewhere and need cash to pick up your game?”
Angel laughed. “You don’t know anything about me. But you will. You will.” And, with that, she
